Brain storm meeting for community projects

A brain-storming session to debate future community projects for Ledbury is being held.

The Your Square Mile (YSM) social initiative, involving the Heineken-owned UBL cider plant, one of the town’s largest employers, will take place in the Burgage Hall, Church Lane, on Wednesday November 28, from 6.15pm to 9.30pm.

The aim is to discuss community issues “and develop a series of community-led projects, developed in part, from Ledbury’s Town Plan”.

The 70-strong crowd has already been selected to reflect the community and the event is not open to the wider public, as was reported on the front page of today's Ledbury Reporter.

Brewer Heineken is helping to kick-start the process by committing 180 UBL employees to playing a more active role in Ledbury projects.

Jeremy Beadles, Heineken’s corporate relations director, said: “This is the first time we have placed so many of our colleagues at the heart of Ledbury, involving them in ways that will create results.”

Successful Your Square Mile projects elsewhere in the UK have included helping to set up a youth festival in Wigton and rebuilding a community centre in Glyncoch, Wales.

Liz Harvey, a Herefordshire councillor and a member of the town plan steering group said: “It all sounds exciting and I look forward to finding out more about what they hope to achieve.

“It will be interesting to see the sort of ideas which come out of the town plan’s Planning for Real event and the YSM community workshop."

The Planning for Real event is a separate process and has been organised by the town plan steering group.

It takes place on Saturday, November 24, in the Burgage Hall, from 10am to 4pm.

Both residents and visitors to the town will be able to drop in and view displays concerning the environment and land use, the economy and enterprise, transport and infrastructure, children and young people; recreation, health and leisure.

  • This is a corrected version of a story posted earlier on this website, and on the front page of the Ledbury Reporter, that contained an inaccuracy.

Comments(12)

drewbreath says...
3:16pm Fri 16 Nov 12

£20 per YSM is an interesting precedent. As I understand, the hierarchy committee/politician
s/councillors on the town plan steering group can claim expenses (courtesy of the tax payer), yet members of the public are encouraged/expected to contribute their time, suggestions and ideas for zilch!

RichHadley says...
6:43am Sat 17 Nov 12

Mr Lever understands wrong. Expenses are payable to TP participants only if they have incurred expenses ie to reimburse them. Nobody receives any fee for their time. The work is done on an entireley voluntary basis. Always best to check your facts before going to print.

drewbreath says...
3:41pm Sat 17 Nov 12

Mr Lever made no mention of any fee, he said expenses. As for reimbursement of expenses, presumably member of the public also incur expenses.

As for checking facts before going to print, why bother? As well as the facts getting in the way of a good story, sure to be some clever-cloggs come along to set the record straight.

RichHadley says...
8:34pm Sat 17 Nov 12

Ho ho. What a sophist you are Michael. Keep up the irony - we enjoy your javelin wit.

drewbreath says...
9:33am Mon 19 Nov 12

Making fun of others or criticising others harshly is a form of bullying.

RichHadley says...
4:10pm Tue 20 Nov 12

Bullying: it involves harassment or threat, and crucially involves an imbalance of power, the stronger against the weaker, a mob against an individual, a dominant group against a minority one.

I am not aware of any particular imbalance of power here Mr Lever. A little gentle mickey-taking can hardly count as verbal harassment...

As for harsh criticism of others, well I suggest you look over your own utterances these last twelve months and consider how your words might have been perceived by your targets.

People in glass houses?

RichHadley says...
4:20pm Tue 20 Nov 12

PS And where this started, so that we don't wander off the point, was your baseless contention that "the hierarchy committee/politician
s/councillors on the town plan steering group can claim expenses (courtesy of the tax payer), yet members of the public are encouraged/expected to contribute their time, suggestions and ideas for zilch!"

You contend that a few privileged people are making money out of the exercise, while ordinary members of the public are expected to work for nothing.

The second part of that at least is correct: nobody involved in Ledbury TC or the Town Plan (except the Clerk and her team) are paid for their work. Everything is done on a voluntary basis. Expenses are payable to anyone who incurs them - "hierarchy" or "members of the public" - as well you know.

drewbreath says...
4:47pm Tue 20 Nov 12

Actually, where it all started was my comment re the precedent set by the brain-storming project YSM paying £20 to each participant, yet the public is expected to contribute to the town plan for nothing, even though the TP steering group can claim expenses.

As for making money out the exercise, whether my contention is baseless is not a matter of your opinion but of fact. Presumably the District Auditor will check or could be asked to. It is not unusual for politicians, local councillors, and the committee-hierarchy to put the wool over the public's eyes, and there is no reason to think those in Ledbury should be beyond question.

Re my utterances these last twelve months re the 'High Street', some people are never satisfied. Everything I have said, regardless of how it has been received by some, has achieved my desired purpose. Left to my own devices, the Tesco application was withdrawn, and the Sainsbury's application defeated. If that's not want you wanted then I won't (overtly) contribute my way of helping in future.

RichHadley says...
5:05pm Tue 20 Nov 12

ok... so we've both explained where we're coming from. I'm glad things are clear. :-)

Andrew Warmington says...
12:05pm Wed 21 Nov 12

"Re my utterances these last twelve months re the 'High Street', some people are never satisfied. Everything I have said, regardless of how it has been received by some, has achieved my desired purpose. Left to my own devices, the Tesco application was withdrawn, and the Sainsbury's application defeated."

Only you can say for sure what your "desired purpose" was in everything you wrote over the last 12 months. However, I for one take it your view to be very hostile to the LOTS campaign, neutral towards Tesco and broadly in favour of Sainsbury's. I'm not alone in that.

You may remember writing a letter to the Planning department in the run-up to the application hearing. This came down in support of the Sainsbury's application and the Council classified it as such. I read it in the files at Hereford and was in doubt that they were correct to do so. If that's not correct, you had better tell them.

drewbreath says...
12:15pm Wed 21 Nov 12

What's this need for post-mortem? Not my scene. More important things to be getting on with.

Andrew Warmington says...
1:51pm Wed 21 Nov 12

*sigh*

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